BANDPASS FILTER DESIGN USING PLANAR COUPLE MICROSTRIP LINES

NURUL ATIQAH BINTI ISMAIL

This Report Is Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirement For The Award Of
Bachelor Of Electronic Engineering (Computer Engineering)
With Honours

Faculty of Electronic and Computer Engineering

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

May 2011

UNIVERSTI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRONIK DAN KEJURUTERAAN KOMPUTER

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS LAPORAN

PROJEK SARJANA MUDA II

Tajuk Projek

BANDPASS FILTER DESIGN USING PLANAR COUPLE

MICROSTRIP LINES

Sesi
Pengajian

2010/2011

Saya NURUL ATIQAH BINTI ISMAIL

mengaku membenarkan Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda ini disimpan di Perpustakaan dengan syaratsyarat kegunaan seperti berikut:
1. Laporan adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.
2.

Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian sahaja.

3.

Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan laporan ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara
institusi pengajian tinggi.

4.

Sila tandakan ( ) :

SULIT*

(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau

kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam AKTA
RAHSIA RASMI 1972)

TERHAD*

(Mengandungi maklumat terhad yang telah ditentukan oleh

organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)

TIDAK TERHAD

Disahkan oleh:

__________________________
(TANDATANGAN PENULIS)

___________________________________
(COP DAN TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)

Alamat Tetap: NO. 16, KG PAYA KECIL

BT.4, JLN MENTAKAB
28000 TEMERLOH
PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR
Tarikh : 3th MEI 2011

Tarikh: ..

Tarikh: 3th MEI 2011

Tarikh: ..

iii
a

I hereby declare that this report is the result of my own work except for quotes as cited
in the references.

Singnature

:..

Author

:.

Date

:..

iv

I hereby declare that I have read this report and in my opinion this report is sufficient in
terms of the scope and quality for the award of Bachelor of Electronic Engineering
(Computer Engineering) With Honours.

Signature

:..

Supervisors Name

:.

Date

:..

Specially dedicated to my beloved parents

Ismail bin Taib and Siti Hasnah binti Ahmad,
brother, sisters and all my fellow friends
who have encouraged, guided and inspired me throughout my journey of education

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah S.W.T, the most Merciful and the most Gracious

Alhamdulillah, a lot of thanks to Allah S.W.T for His blessing for me to

complete my Final Year Project and this thesis is symbolic of the support and guidance
that I get from all my family and friends.
First and foremost, I would like to express my heartily gratitude to my
supervisor, Dr. Badrul Hisham bin Ahmad for the guidance and enthusiasm given
throughout the progress of this project.
My appereciation also goes to my family who has been so tolerant and supports
me all these years. Special thanks for their encouragement, love and emotional support
that they had given to me.
I also would like to thank to those who has given the constructive comments and
ideas in completing this project and I hope this project could give the advantages and
knowledge for all the readers.

vii

ABSTRACT

Filter is highly desirable in communication system. It functions to pass through

the desired frequencies within the range and block unwanted frequencies. In addition,
filters are also needed to remove out harmonics that are present in the communication
system. The objective of this project is to design, construct and fabricate microstrip
suitable with centered at 9GHz. The filter must operate within the unlicensed 9GHz
band. This application is in the X band range (8-12GHz) currently being used for
industrial, medical and scientific applications. A planar couple microstrip lines prototype
filter was produced with the bandwidth is 1GHz. The filter covers the 9GHz band and
the bandwidth from 8.5GHz to 9.5 GHz. The filter was fabricated on FR4 board, that
had a relative dielectric constant, r = 4.7, a loss tangent tan = 0.019 and thickness, h
of 1.6 mm.

viii

ABSTRAK

Peranti penapis sangat diperlukan dalam sistem komunikasi. Ia berfungsi

membenarkan satu julat frekuensi yang dikehendaki dan menghalang satu julat frekuensi
yang tidak dikehendaki. Di samping itu, penapis juga diperlukan untuk membuang
harmonik yang tidak dikehendaki dalam sistem komunikasi. Projek in bertujuan untuk
merekabentuk dan membina penapis jalurmikro yang boleh beroperasi dalam frekuensi
9GHz. Aplikasi in didalam ukuran X band (8-12GHz), yg selalunya digunakan untuk
industri, perubatan dan saintifik. Pasangan mikrostrip garis planar ini menghasilkan
lebarjalur 1GHz iaitu dari frekuensi 8.5GHz sehingga 9.5GHz. Antenna tersebut dibina
pada FR4 yang mempunyai r = 4.7, tan = 0.019 dan ketebalan, h of 1.6 mm.

ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

CONTENT

PAGE

DECLARATION

iii

DEDICATION

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

vi

ABSTRACT

vii

ABSTRAK

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ix

LIST OF TABLES

xii

LIST OF FIGURES

xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

xv

LIST OF APPENDIX

xvi

INTRODUCTION
1.1

Project Overview

1.2

Problem Statement

1.3

Objectives

1.4

Scope

1.5

Project Outline

II

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1

Introduction

2.2

Microstrip Line

2.2.1

Basic Microstrip Line

2.2.2

Microstrip Field Radiation

2.2.3

Substrate Materials

2.2.4

Applications

2.2.5

The Five Microstrip Filters Illustrate Are

2.2.6

Microstrip Couplers

10

2.2.7 The Comparison between Microstrip,

Waveguide and Substrate Integrated
Waveguide.

13

2.2.8 Comparison of Popular Transmission

Media
2.3

III

Filter

13
14

2.3.1

Filter Circuits

14

2.3.2

Filters Technologies

17

2.4

Parallel-Coupled Filters

19

2.5

Filter Loss

21

2.5.1

Insertion Loss

21

2.5.2

Return Loss

21

2.6

Microwave Board

22

PROJECT METHADOLOGY
3.1

Introduction

23

3.2

Overview of Procedure

23

3.3

Project Flow Chart

24

3.3.1

24

3.4

Design

Project Development

26

xi

IV

VI

3.4.1

Simulation

26

3.4.2

Fabrication

26

3.4.3

Testing

27

DESIGN PROCESS AND FABRICATION

4.1

Design Specification

28

4.2

Calculation

29

4.3

Simulation

35

4.4

Fabrication

41

RESULT, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

5.1

Introduction

47

5.2

Result and Analysis

47

5.3

Discussions

50

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

6.1

Conclusion

52

6.2

Future Work

52

REFERENCES

xii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO.

TITLE

PAGE

2.2.7 (i)

The comparison between microstrip, waveguide and SIW

13

2.2.7 (ii)

Comparison of popular transmission media

13

2.6

Material specification for microwave board

22

4.1 (i)

Microstrip filter specifications

28

4.2 (ii)

Three equations above are used to obtain the J-inverters

32

4.2 (iii)

The result for Zoe and Zoe after calculation

33

4.2 (iii)

The size for W, S and L

34

5.2 (i)

The size of W, S and L

49

5.2 (ii)

Summary of the implemented filters and the filter specification

50

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO.

TITLE

PAGE

2.2.1

Structure of Microstrip Configuration

2.2.2

Electromagnetic Field Pattern of a Microstrip

2.2.5

Types of microstrip filter

2.2.6 (i)

The parallel coupled microstrip in cross section

11

2.2.6 (ii)

The parallel coupled microstrip lines

11

2.2.6 (iii)

The field pattern for even and odd mode

12

2.3.1(i)

Schematic Reciprocal Two-Port Filtering Network

15

2.3.1(ii)

Low pass filter

16

2.3.1(iii)

Bandpass filter

16

2.31(iv)

High pass filter

17

2.4(i)

Illustrate a general structure of parallel-coupled

(or edge-coupled)

2.4 (ii)

20

General structure of parallel (edge)-coupled microstrip

bandpass filter

21

2.5.2

Example of insertion and return loss response

23

3.3

Project Flow Chart

24

3.3.1

Design process Flow Chart

25

4.2(i)

Fractional Bandwidth

29

4.2(ii)

Bandpass filter conversion

30

4.2(iii)

Coupled line filter configuration

30

4.2(iv)

Equivalent circuit of coupled U4 open lines

31

xiv

4.2(vi)

The LineCal in ADS software

34

4.3(i)

The new schematic

36

4.3 (ii)

The schematic design

36

4.3 (iii)

The plot traces and attributes

37

4.3 (iv)

The design is set in dB

37

4.3 (v)

The simulation result

38

4.3 (vi)

The printed circuit layout

38

4.3 (vii)

The port need to connect with the design

39

4.3(viii)

The substrate need to setup in FR4 specification

40

4.3 (ix)

The simulation control

40

4.4(i)

The print out design

41

4.4(ii)

The Ultraviolet process

42

4.4(iii)

The developer process

56

4.4(iv)

The dryer machine

56

4.4(v)T

he etching process

57

4.4(vi)

The fabricated design for N=3

59

4.4(vii)

The fabricated design for N=7

59

4.4(viii)

The network analyzer

59

4.4(ix)

The measure output for N=3

60

4.4(x)

The measure output for N=7

60

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LPF

Lowpass filter

BPF

Bandpass filter

BSF

Bandstop filter

IL

Insertion loss

RT

Return loss

BW

Bandwidth

PCB

Printed circuit board

I/O

Input/output

Zo

High impedence

Zoo

Z odd

Zoe

Z even

ADS

Advance design system

dB

Decibel

Dielectric constant

Dielectric substrate

SIW

Substrate integrated waveguide

TEM

Transverse electromagnetic

NEMA

Nasional Electrical Manufacturers Association

FR

Fire resistant

HFSS

High Frequency Structure Simulator

Number of element

xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX

TITLE

PAGE

Poster during seminar PSM 2

61

Gantt chart for PSM

62

Chebyshev filter coefficients; 0.5dB filter design

63

(N=1 to10)

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Project Overview
This project will develop a bandpass filter using planar couple microstrip lines.

Using Advance Design System (ADS) the planar couple will be design and then
determine the best specs refer to simplicity in fabricating. The planar couple will be
simulate, fabricate and tested.
Filters are essential in the RF front end of microwave wireless communication
system. In planar microstrip and stripline realization, one of the most common
implementation methods for bandpass and bandstop filters with required bandwidths up
to a 40% of central frequency is to use a cascade of parallel coupled sections.
The synthesis procedure which consists of the design equation for the coupled
line physical parameters (space-gap between parallel lines, line widths and lengths) is
easy and can be found in any classical microwave books. Based on this, a well defined
systematic procedure, for the required parallel coupled microstrip filter physical
parameters can be easily derived for both Butterworth and Chebyshev response of any

order. The filter can be fabricated easily and it exhibits reasonably good performance
compared with other planar circuit filters.
Although parallel coupled bandpass microstrip filter is very popular and simple,
the traditional design does suffer from a fundamental limitation, namely, the presence of
spurious response at twice the basic passbands at the design frequency.

1.2

Problem Statement
Microstrip is a cheaper, reliable and easy to connect with the other planar device.

Compare to waveguide, microstrip is thus much less expensive than traditional

waveguide technology, as well as being far lighter, Q high and more compact.

1.3

Objectives
The objectives of this project are:
i.

To design, develop and test a bandpass filter using microstrip planar couple
lines.

ii.

To compare the result of couple line filter with rectangular waveguide

bandpass filter and SIW

1.4

Scope
The scope of this project is to design microstrip parallel coupled bandpass filter

using Advanced Design System (ADS) 2008 software, matching to 50 microstrip line
parallel coupled and analysis of insertion loss and return loss using Chebyshev response
characteristic with passband ripple of 0.5dB between the passband frequencies of

8.5GHz and 9.5GHz. The frequency is operate in X band range between 8GHz to
12GHz. This project will involve simulation and fabrication of microstrip bandpass
filter. The design will be fabricate on FR4 board with dielectric constant is 4.7. After
that it will be compare with regtangular waveguide bandpass and SIW bandpass filter.

1.5

Project Outline
This thesis comprises of six chapters. The first chapter briefly discusses the

overviews about the project such as introduction, objectives, problem statements and
scope of this project.
Chapter 2 describes about the research and information about the project. Every
facts and information, which found through by any references had been selected. This
literature review has been explained about the planar couple microstrip lines.
Chapter 3 will discuss about the project methodology used in this project such as
calculation, simulation, fabrication and testing. All these methodology should be
followed for a better performance.
Chapter 4, describe about the discussion and project finding such as the result
and analysis. The result is presented by calculation. All the initial simulation results of
planar couple microstrip line and collected data are documented using the table and
discussed it. This is including the graphs that have obtained during the simulation.
Chapter five describe about expected result and the comparison results between
simulation and measurement.
Finally the conclusion has been made and recommendation for the future works.
The recommendation is added to give an opinion and also an improvement on how the
future works should have done.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1

Introduction
This chapter gives a literature review and information relating to the microstrip

design with the basic information related to this project and the design formulas for
calculating.

2.2

Microstrip Line

2.2.1

Basic Microstrip Line

The microstrip line is most commonly used as microwave integrated circuit

transmission medium. Microstrip transmission line is a kind of "high grade" printed

circuit construction, consisting of a track of copper or other conductor on an insulating
substrate. There is a "backplane" on the other side of the insulating substrate, formed
from a similar conductor. Basically, it comprised of a metal strip supported above a
larger dielectric material and a ground plane. Looking at the cross-section of the

5
microstrip transmission line, the track on top of the substrate will serve as a "hot"
conductor, whereas the backplane on the bottom serves as a "return" conductor.
Microstrip can therefore be considered a variant of a two wire transmission line [1].
Metallic Strip

Dielectric substrate
Ground Plane

Figure 2.2.1: Structure of Microstrip Configuration [1]

The general geometry of microstrip is shown in figure 2.2.1 as above. The most
important dimensional parameters in microstrip circuit design are the width w and height
h (equivalent to the thickness of the substrate). Another important parameter is the
relative permittivity of the substrate (r). The thickness of the metallic, top conducting
strip t and conductivity s are generally of much lesser importance and may be often
neglected. The metallic strip is usually printed on a microwave substrate material.

2.2.2

Microstrip Field Radiation

If one solves the electromagnetic equations to find the field distributions, one
will tend to find very nearly a completely TEM (transverse electromagnetic) pattern.
This means that there are only a few regions in which there is a component of electric or
magnetic field in the direction of wave propagation. The field pattern is commonly
referred to as a Quasi-TEM pattern. Shown in figure 2.2.2 is the electromagnetic field
pattern of the basic microstrip transmission line.

Magnetic Field

Electric Field

Figure 2.2.2: Electromagnetic Field Pattern of a Microstrip[1]

Under some conditions, one has to take into account of the effects due to
longitudinal fields. An example is geometrical dispersion, where different wave
frequencies travel at different phase velocities, and the group and phase velocities are
different. The difference between microstrip transmission line and stripline is that the
microstrip is a homogenous transmission line. This means that the electromagnetic fields
are not entirely contained in the substrate. Hence, microstrip line cannot support pure
TEM mode of transmission, as phase velocities would be different in the air and the
substrate. Instead, a quasi-TEM mode is established. The quasi-TEM pattern arises
because of the interface between the dielectric substrate and the surrounding air. The
electric field lines have a discontinuity in direction at the interface. The boundary
conditions for electric field are that the normal component (i.e. the component at right
angles to the surface) of the electric field times the dielectric constant is continuous
across the boundary; thus in the dielectric which may have dielectric constant 10, the
electric field suddenly drops to 1/10 of its value in air. On the other hand, the tangential
component (parallel to the interface) of the electric field is continuous across the
boundary. In general, a sudden change of direction of electric field lines at the interface

7
is observed, which gives rise to a longitudinal magnetic field component from the
second Maxwell's equation, curl E = - dB/dt. Since some of the electric energy is stored
in the air and some in the dielectric, the effective dielectric constant for the waves on the
transmission line will lie somewhere between that of the air and that of the dielectric.
Typically the effective dielectric constant will be 50-85% of the substrate dielectric
constant. Since the microstrip structure is not uniform, it will support the quasi-TEM
mode [2].

2.2.3

Substrate Materials

The choice of substrate used is an important factor in the design of a microstrip

filter. Important qualities of the dielectric substrate include [3]:
i.

The microwave dielectric constant

ii.

The frequency dependence of this dielectric constant which gives rise to

"material dispersion" in which the wave velocity is frequency-dependent

iii.

The surface finish and flatness

iv.

The dielectric loss tangent, or imaginary part of the dielectric constant,

which sets the dielectric loss

v.

The cost

vi.

The thermal expansion and conductivity

vii.

The dimensional stability with time

viii.

The surface adhesion properties for the conductor coatings

ix.

The manufacturability (ease of cutting, shaping, and drilling)

x.

The porosity (for high vacuum applications)

Since the substrate dimensions and dielectric constant are functions of substrate
temperature, the operating temperature range becomes an important property in the
design of any microstrip filter. In addition, the dielectric constant and loss tangent are
also functions of frequency. As for a physical property which is important in fabrication

8
of the filter, they are resistance to chemicals, tensile and structural strengths, flexibility,
machinability, impact resistance, strain relief, formability, bondability and substrate
characteristic s when clad. Generally, there are two types of substrates used: soft and
hard substrates [2]. Soft substrates are flexible, cheap and can be fabricated easily.
However, it possesses higher thermal expansion coefficients. Typical examples of soft
substrates are RT Duriod 5870 (r = 2.3), RT Duriod 5880 (r = 2.2) and RT Duriod
6010.5 (r = 10.5). As for hard substrates, it has better reliability and lower thermal
expansion coefficients. On the other hand, it is more expensive and non-flexible. Typical
examples of hard substrates are quartz (r = 3.8), alumina (r = 9.7), sapphire (r = 11.7)
and Gallium Arsenide GaAs (r = 12.3).
Normally, thick substrates with low dielectric constants are often used as it
provides better efficiency, larger bandwidth and loosely bound fields for radiation into
space. However, it would also result in a larger filter size. On the other hand, using thin
substrates with higher dielectric constants would result in smaller filter size. The
drawbacks are that it is less efficient and has relatively smaller bandwidths. Therefore,
there must be a design trade-off between the filter size and good filter performance.

2.2.4

Applications
Due to the fact that most present-day systems demand for small size, lightweight

and low cost the employment of microstrip technology arises extensively over the years.
Microstrip are particularly suited to those applications where low profile because it can
conform to a given shape easily. Shown below are some typical system applications
which employ microstrip technology [8]:
i.

Satellite communications

ii.

Doppler and other radars

iii.

Radio altimeter

iv.

Command and control